Happy Halloween 2024

 

October sure has flown by! It's been a busy month for me. I've been drafting and editing the last few chapters in my third book (only four chapters left to go!) and trying to squeeze in as much Halloween joy as I can. I thought I'd give you a little recap of some of my October highlights.

Halloween costumes are a big part of the Halloween season for me. For the past few years, I've tried to dress up most of the days of October, and one of my go-to costumes is a scarecrow. This year, I was really excited to finally get the chance to take photos in my scarecrow costume in a cornfield. The pictures came out amazingly! 

(As a side note, let me know if you want to see a tutorial for how I do my scarecrow makeup. I thought for sure I posted one already, but when I flipped back through my blog, I couldn't find one.)

Brian and I enjoyed the beautiful fall colors on our lunch walks. Seeing the forest full of vibrant colors is one of my favorite times of the year. If only it lasted longer.

We also had a more unusual opportunity: we got to see the aurora borealis. It was amazing seeing the sky awash in shades of pink and purple!

Another costume I love, my Beanie Baby cat Jinx. You can find my tutorial for making cat ears here, and the tag I printed from this blog.

 October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Brian and I donned purple garb for Wear Purple Day.

We also took part in the 11th annual UMaine March Against Domestic Violence. Here I'm pictured with Nory Jones and Amanda Cost. Nory has been one of the primary forces behind the March since its inception, and Amanda is the executive director of Partners For Peace, a local domestic violence resource center.

On the 20th, I celebrated one year as a published author. My short story "The doll" published in Horrorscope Volume 3, came out on October 20th, 2023. To celebrate, I dressed up as my character Nicole from that story. If you liked the cast from "The Doll," stay tuned, because you might see more of them very soon.

I also continued my pumpkin painting tradition. Last year, I painted a pumpkin to celebrate the release of Horrorscope Volume 3. This year, I did one for Grizzly: A Charity Anthology, which includes my short story "Jane." I also dressed up as the woman with the black veil from that story.

Caught some falling leaves.

Shared new author photos.

And made some Halloween treat bags for our local trick-or-treaters. 

And now the day has finally come! Wishing you and your family a wonderful Halloween!

DIY Pokémon Ghost Bow: Pokemonbounding Ep 11

 

When I saw Pokemon Center's Halloween 2024 merchandise included Sprigatito with an adorable little ghost bow, I immediately wanted one for myself. They don't have any for sale (at least none that I saw), which meant it was crafting time. I couldn't find a good way to make the spider web mesh, so I left that off and just focused on the central bow. 

Materials: 

*Lilac-colored felt

*Black felt

*White felt

*Scissors

*Fabric chalk

*Metal barrette

*All-purpose adhesive 

*Needle and thread (optional)

Directions: 

*Cut a strip of lilac colored felt about as thick as you would like your bow to be (1 1/2" to 2" should work well). 

*Glue the ends of the felt together. 

*Pinch the middle of the ribbon to form a bow shape.

*For me, it was helpful to put a couple of stitches into the pinched part of the ribbon to get it to retain its shape.

*Cut off a thin piece of lilac colored felt. Wind it around the middle of the bow and through the top piece of the metal barrette. Sew or glue the ends of the felt strip together. 

*Draw a ghost shape on the black belt using the fabric chalk and cut out.

*Cut out two little eyes from the white felt and glue to the ghost shape. 

*Glue the ghost to the center of the bow. Let dry.

Wearing my ghost bow in a Sprigatito-inspired look.

One more just for fun! From Sewaddle Community Day.

DIY Polly Pocket Costume

 The classic 90s Polly Pockets came in many styles, so this costume is highly customizable. Bring along a painted wooden stand for photo opportunities to take this look to the next level.

Materials: 

*10 in or 12 in round wooden plaque 

*Spray paint the same color as the shoes you plan to wear 

Directions: 

*Set up your work in a well ventilated area. Cover the workstation with newspaper or tarp. 

*Following the directions on the spray paint can, paint the wooden plaque. For best results, you may want to do several coats. Let dry.

DIY Candle Flame Headband

 

Looking for a quick and easy Halloween costume? Why not dress as a candle? This candle flame headband is relatively easy and inexpensive to make, and there are so many different types of candles that you can really make the costume your own. Maybe even match a candle you have, like I did with this bleeding candle. 

Materials: 

*Headband

*One sheet orange felt

*One sheet yellow felt

*Fabric marker or fabric chalk

*Scissors

*All purpose adhesive 

Directions: 

*Fold a sheet of orange felt in half and draw a freehand flame shape using the fabric marker or chalk. The base of the flame should touch the fold line. You'll want the base of the flame to be about an inch thick. 

*Keeping the felt folded in half, cut out the flame shape. Make sure that the base of the flame remains connected. In other words, when you finish cutting out the flame, if you unfold the shape, you should have two flame shapes connected together at the base. 

*Fold a sheet of yellow felt in half and draw a smaller flame shape. This time around, you won't want the two shapes to remain connected, so you may want to draw a little bit above the fold line. 

*Keeping the felt folded in half, cut out the yellow flame. This time around, you should have two distinct flame shapes. 

*Glue the yellow flames to the orange flames. 

*Wrap the flame around the headband such that the base sits against the underside of the headband. Glue the base to the headband and then glue the two halves of felt together, yellow flame sides facing outward. Let dry.

DIY Wooden Tarot Cards

 

This year, Joann has paintable wooden tarot card garlands as part of their Halloween offerings. I thought it would be fun to create my own tarot card designs and ended up pulling inspiration from my writing. Each of the cards you see here was inspired by a story or publication of mine.

Today's post isn't really a tutorial, since I designed these tarot cards with specific personal meaning in mind. However, I thought you might still like to see them and perhaps could gain inspiration from them. Instead of using the traditional iconography for the Major Arcana, I made the cards my own. Here's a brief explanation of each card:

The Magician became The Witch, and this card is still in progress. I've done all the major work, but there are still some places I need to touch up. This bookshelf is from a currently unpublished story (although it may be published in the not too distant future 🤫). That's about all I can say about it at the moment.

The Lovers uses imagery from another unpublished story of mine, The Hitchhiker. It's a take on the classic urban legend of the same name, and it involves a romance between the driver and passenger. The rock and necklace are gifts they exchange with one another. And that's all I'll say to avoid too many spoilers.

The Hermit became The Writer. This was the card that inspired this whole project. I thought it would be fun to try and represent myself as a tarot card, and since writing is such a major element of my identity, I themed it around that. Those are the four anthologies I've been published in. I went with the number nine just because it's my favorite number, but it worked out really well because I can be a bit of a hermit. 

Lastly, we have Strength. This one uses a symbol from my short story "Jane," which was published in Grizzly: A Charity Anthology. Butterflies, and monarchs in particular, are often seen as symbols of strength and rebirth.

Amber's Hallo-zine 2024

 

I'm so excited to present to you the latest issue of Amber's Hallo-zine! I had a ton of fun putting together the first issue in 2020, and it was great to finally get back to it. This one has a creepy doll theme. Inside, you'll find a new doll-related craft and recipe, a fun costume quiz, creepy doll costume ideas, a writing game, an excerpt from my short story "The Doll," and more. Click on the Google form below and put in your name and email to get your free copy today. 

You can also opt-in to receive email updates about my writing if you'd like. It's not a required question, and I don't know if I'll actually end up using any emails collected, as ideally, I'll have a newsletter at some point that folks will be able to sign up for. But I figured it doesn't hurt to give people the option to opt-in.

Download Here

Exciting Things to Come

 No new blog post this week because things are pretty busy right now. I'm drafting the last quarter of my third book, editing a short story, and I have a talk coming up next week, which the flyer above details, so I haven't had a ton of time for crafting. But I do have some cool ideas in the works, so I wanted to to take a moment to share my plans with you. 

First up, I have a new Hallo-zine in the works. I decided to go with a themed issue this time. (Any guesses?) In it, you'll find a fun quiz, costume ideas, a new craft, an excerpt from one of my stories, and more. I still have a few pieces left to write, but I'm hoping to get this out in the next couple of weeks. 

After that, I have a number of costume ideas in store for you, so get ready to bust out your felt and removable vinyl. And yes, one of these costumes is Pokémon-related. I also have a couple of one-off crafts, and between those and the costumes, that should take us through Halloween season. 

I can't wait to share these with you all! 

More DIY Potion Bottles

 

Repurpose empty seasoning bottles in this fun Halloween craft. 

Materials: 

*Pre-washed seasoning bottles

*Plastic Halloween figures

*Potion label charms 

*Twine

*Hot glue

*Glitter, shaped sequins, sprinkles, or other "ingredients" to fill the potion bottles 

Directions: 

*Pick a Halloween figure and label that work well together. For example, I paired a bubbling cauldron with my witch's brew charm and a bat with my wool of bat charm. 

*Remove the lid from the seasoning container and hot glue the figure to the center of the lid. Let cool. 

*Tie the charm around the neck of the bottle using twine.

*Fill the container with glitter, sprinkles, sequins, colorful liquid, or something else that represents the potion ingredient. For example, I used witch's brew sprinkles for the witch's brew and shredded black felt for wool of bat.

*Seal the container. Now your potions are ready for display.

Clay Sheet Ghost Earrings

 

Add some spooky whimsy to your outfits with these adorable ghost earrings.

Materials:

*White oven-baked clay

*Jump ring

*Toothpick

*Ear wires

*Jewelry pliers 

Directions: 

*Take a small amount of clay and shape it into a thin circle roughly 1.5"-2" in diameter. 

*Shape into a sheet ghost shape. You may find it helpful to drape over the end of a pen or similar object. 

*Embed a jump ring in the top of the ghost's head. Make sure enough of the ring is sticking out so that you can slide an ear wire through.

*Use a toothpick to press a face into the ghost.

*Bake in the oven in accordance with the directions on the clay packaging. Let cool.

*Using pliers, attach ear wires to the ghosts.

DIY Bear Ears

 

I'm back! Sort of. I still have the tendon injury, which limits how much time I can spend writing. And since I'm a horror writer, I need to spend most my writing time focusing on my fiction. But I've made a number of crafts and DIYs over the past few years, and I miss sharing them with you all. So I hope to pop in from time to time with a new craft.

Since Halloween is on the horizon, I figured today I'd show you how I made these bear ears. I made them for a book release, which I'll tell you more about at the end of the post. But first, the tutorial. 

DIY Bear Ears

Materials:

*Black headband

*Black felt

*Pink felt

*All purpose or fabric adhesive

*Scissors 

*Marker for tracing 

*Bigger cylinder and smaller cylinder for tracing circles (sizes depend on your preferences for the ear size)

Directions: 

*Trace and cut out two larger circles in black felt and two smaller circles in pink felt.

*Center the pink circles on the black circles and glue together.

*Line up the circles along the headband where you would like them positioned and trim off the excess felt that dips below the headband.

*Glue the ears to the headband. Let dry. 

Grizzly: A Charity Anthology

I'm so excited to share that my short story "Jane" was accepted into Grizzly: A Charity Anthology! All proceeds from this anthology benefit Take Back the Night, an organization dedicated to ending sexual assault globally. Inspired by the man vs. bear debate, all of the stories have a bear theme, although in some cases, the bear is central to the story whereas in others, the bear exists in passing mention. The anthology is multi-genre, and my story is horror. I'm including the blurb below, and if you would like to learn more, you can check it out on Amazon or Goodreads. It is only available until September 10th, so if you'd like to have a copy, make sure to pick it up before then. 

The Blurb: 

Boys will be boys.

Bears will be bears…

Brace yourself for twenty mixed-genre tales, all tied together with a neat bear- shaped bow that your mother would be proud of. Guaranteed to make you ‘smile more often’ and rage like it’s ‘that time of the month’.

Written by femme SA survivors for all SA survivors, Grizzly is the charity anthology that aims to give back and bite back.

Sometimes, when you can’t find the strength to roar, a growl will do.